Yesterday I received an email from Brian letting me know that he had a broken Series 2 TiVo that he was willing to donate to a new home. Here’s a copy of the feedback that Brian sent me:

I saw your post about giving away a broken TiVo, and I’m wondering, might you be able to find a home for mine? I’ve got a Series 2 (I even think it’s got a month or two of service left on it) whose Hard drive was failing and which we replaced with a Series 3. I’d hate to take it to the electronics recycling place if someone out there wanted it to play around with. If you know someone who would, or care to ask your readers if they would, or have a suggestion for a better place for me to ask my question, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!

If you’d like Brian’s TiVo, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. I am going to randomly select a winner just like I did for my Mother’s TiVo. All comments must be submitted by Wednesday @ 12:00AM EDT. Since Brian was nice enough to donate his TiVo, I am going to cover the cost of shipping the unit anywhere in the continental United States.

Remember back in October of last year when I blogged about my Mom’s broken Series 2 TiVo? Well, I was wondering if anybody wanted it? Based on the comments I received, it appears as though the DVR needs a new power supply.

If you’d like to own a broken TiVo, all you need to do is place a comment on this post. If multiple people comment, I will randomly select a winner. All comments must be entered by Tuesday (7/31) @ 12:00AM EDT. I will pay shipping as long as the winner is in the continental United States.

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As a side note, I would like to thank Saugar for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Saugar!

Update 06/29 @ 4:36AM: Dave Zatz found a page over at TiVo.com which allows you to transfer your lifetime subscription. The fine print indicates that the offer is available from June 28th to July 23rd and that it is only valid for lifetime subscriptions which were activated before June 15, 2003. As always, you should read the fine print if you try and take advantage of this offer.

A long time reader to this site (Robert Aitchison) recently sent me some interesting feedback that I thought I should share with everybody. According to Robert, TiVo recently sent him an email indicating that he could transfer his lifetime subscription from his Single tuner Series 2 TiVo to a more updated Series 2 dual tuner TiVo. The email doesn’t say if this offer would apply if Robert owned a Series 1 TiVo.

Interesting E-Mail I got today from TiVo. Seems they are offering me the chance to move my lifetime sub (I have 2 Series2 TiVo’s with lifetime) to a new Series2 DT.

Now since both of my TiVo’s are 80 hour already lifetime there really isn’t a lot of incentive for me to take them up on this offer, but if I had a Series1 I suspect it might be a different thing. Of course who knows if the offer is being sent to Series1 customers as well.

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Thanks for the TiVo rewards referral Jeff! I really do appreciate it. As always, you can send me a referral by entering my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo.

Today I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Daniel gave me yet another TiVo rewards referral. Along with the referral, Daniel also sent me the following email:

Hey,

I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your blog. In fact, I just got a series 2 and entered your email as a referral! I got a great deal on the box; Circuit City was selling it for $150 and Tivo offers a rebate for $170. I’ll actually be getting paid $20 for purchasing this Tivo! Keep up the good blogging,

Dan

Enjoy your TiVo Dan and thanks again for the referral. If you’d like to give me a referral, you can enter my email address when you activate your TiVo (raianoat AT gmail DOT com).

Make-this-work.com is running a contest whereby the winner will receive a free Series 2 TiVo. The contest states that the DVR needs to have its hard drive replaced.

I kind of thought this was an interesting contest even though the Series 2 needs to be fixed.  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who are comfortable with replacing a drive in a Series 2 TiVo.

Thanks to John (a.k.a Mr. Tangent), I placed my order today for a free Series 3 TiVo! That’s right, John as well as several other TiVoBlog readers have been kind enough to give me enough referrals for a free Series 3 TiVo. In fact, since October 2004, I’ve referred 22 people via the TiVo Rewards program.

Back in Oct. 2006 when TiVo added the Series 3 TiVo to their rewards program, I thought it was nearly impossible for me to ever get enough referrals for the Series 3.

Obviously, I’m very excited to get this DVR. I look forward to being able to record HD OTA as well as being able to get rid of my Time Warner DVR. I plan on keeping my Series 2 and using it mainly for transferring shows to my iPod. I also plan on using my Series 2 for my son’s TV shows. The Series 3 will be used mainly for HD content as well as an occasional standard def program. As soon as my Series 3 arrives I’ll be sure to let everybody know. Stay tuned for more information. TiVo said that it could take up to 10 weeks for me to get my Series 3. I really hope it doesn’t take that long….

Do you have a Slingbox? I’d love to get one but I’m not sure I could justify it. Maybe my buddy Dave can hook me up with one now that he has made it big :).

For those of you who missed it, TiVo recently started to push version 8.3 of their TiVo software. If you’re really dying to get this latest release, you can head on over to the software priority request form.

There’s not much information on what 8.3 includes other then the fact that it will have “new options for recorded programs” as well as “improved” TiVoCast support. One thing to note, this update is only available for Series 2 TiVos.

Thank you for your interest in the new TiVo Spring 2007 Service Update, featuring new options for recorded programs and improved TiVoCast support!

This update is for TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorders only! DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo and TiVo Series1 DVRs are not eligible for this update.

Have a TiVo Series3 Digital Media Recorder? This update is not yet available for these units.

Only DVRs with TiVo Service Numbers beginning with the following numbers are eligible for this software:
110, 130, 140, 230, 240, 264, 275, 540, 565, 590, 595, and 649.

(You can find your TiVo Service Number by going to:
TiVo Central -> Messages and Settings -> System Information.)

*** Please note: It may take up to three business days to receive your new software. We appreciate your patience.

You have received the update when the software version in the System Information screen begins with “8.3″. For more information, please visit our Customer Support site.

Thank you for using the TiVo Service!

TiVo Customer Support

Spotted on ZatzNotFunny and TiVoLovers.

DVRPlayground has put together a great step by step tutorial on how to remove commercials from TiVoToGo records. Essentially what you’ll need is a network connected Series 2 TiVo, VideoReDo ($49.99) and TiVoDesktop.

Let’s begin with what you’ll need to make this work:

1. A Series 2 or later TiVo. Series 1 and the old DirecTV TiVo’s don’t support TiVoToGo. But no worries… If this is you, then you just have to modify your TiVo, and follow a slightly different set of instructions.
2. A network adapter to connect your TiVo to your home network. TiVo offers installation instructions for setting up either a wired or a wireless network connection to your TiVo DVR.
3. A copy of the TiVo Desktop software, which is available free from TiVo here.
4. A copy of the VideoReDo Plus software. You can download a free trial or purchase the registered version for $49.99.

I think I might try this out later this month when I have travel for work.

Head on over to DVRPlayground for additional information….